You’ve landed here for a reason. You love to fish and you like all that comes along with that affliction — road trips and tunes; drinks at dive bars; 20-ounce ribeyes at places called The Oasis or The Western; small town shenanigans; waves and weather, sometimes in less than desirable proportions; and all else that makes fishing such an adventuresome life.
Welcome to the redesign of Angler’s Tonic where, like always, you take a seat in the bow and we pull the oars. So let’s shove off. Need anything from the cooler?

Nothing like dreaming on a winter day. I found these bull trout last summer while hiking deep into a Northwest forest. Unfortunately, they weren’t easy to come by. I caught a couple before they “wised up” and then landed some beautiful cutthroat from the same pool. Here’s the thing: I thought there were two or three bull trout, at the most, in this pool. It wasn’t until I got home and examined the video that I realized it was packed. Probably should have changed flies Continue reading →

I’m not a guy who easily gets chilled, and I surprise friends by wearing short-sleeve shirts all winter long. But, when I do get chilled, I get really chilled and the only thing that brings me out of the shivers is a long, hot shower. Showers aren’t readily available on Pacific Northwest steelhead streams, nor the Rocky Mountain trout streams I frequent, so when the big chill sets in Continue reading →

It’s the start of the new year and about all I’ve been able to do in 2018 is dream about fishing. I did get a good throw on Washington’s Bogachiel River in late December, but that was it. And, it rained over an inch Continue reading →

I was e-mailing a friend the other day, talking about the sad state of British Columbia’s Thompson River steelhead fishery (if you can call it that anymore) and he sent me a cover shot of Trout & Salmon magazine that looked real familiar.

In fact, the cover looked almost identical to the cover I chose for the summer 2016 issue of Fly Rod & Reel magazine . . . down to the near exact coverline, which on FRR’s cover reads Land of Giants and on T&S’ cover reads, Land of The Giants. Continue reading →

If you haven’t checked out Angler’s Journal, you’re missing the boat, so to speak. This magazine is combination of fly fishing, gear fishing and commercial fishing, but mostly it’s a mag that shares stories about passion and people.

I equate it to the New Yorker, which may not cover the exact subject matter that you or I might be interested in, but even so you can’t ignore its stories because they are so compelling and good. You may not be interested in commercial fishing, or Continue reading →

Whenever you have a couple hours to burn you might want to sink your teeth into North 40 Fly Shops’ fall eMag, which went live at north40flyshop.com a couple days ago. You may notice a difference in the design and content, including offerings from several notable fisheads, including the always edgy Dave McCoy, the brown trout addict Brain Kozminski, the silver
slammin’ George Cook, steelhead model Michael White, steelhead savior Dave Moskowitz, spey guru Marty Sheppard, and the Utah wordsmith Robert Robinson, among others. Continue reading →

Since Fly Rod & Reel’s demise I’ve been working on freelance projects and generally keeping busier than I’d like to be. In June I decided to help North 40 Outfitters with their media efforts and part of that equation is to take over editor duties for the North 40 e-magazines.

If you’re a non-fisher, fly names, alone, could keep you from joining the ranks. Who are these sick beings, you might ask, after glancing at a list of the most egregious monikers.

Take these, for example: some of the worst include, but are not restricted to, the Sex Dungeon, the Barely Legal, the T&A Bunker, the Butt Monkey, the Bangtail, the Butt Sump, the Flatliner, the Heifer Groomer, the Improved Pearl Necklace, the Stacked Blonde, the Drunk & Disorderly, the Sleezburger, the Organ Donor, the Voodoo Squatch, the Home Wrecker, the Sculpzilla, the Threesome, and the Booby Leech.

Had some fun putting this video together for Field & Stream and its Facebook page, Hookshots. This vid serves as a reminder that pike fishing is an option while most of our area waters are running high and fast. In Continue reading →